Wondercolts
Wondercolts is a 2005 American computer-animated action-adventure musical fantasy comedy-sports film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Directed and co-written by Andrew Adamson from a screenplay by Aron Warner, Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio, David Lipman, Joe Stillman. and features the voices of Sarah Michelle Gellar, Mila Kunis, Joan Cusack, Sarah Robinson, Megan Freeman, Kelly Moon, Kirsten Dunst, Emily Blunt, Amy Poehler, Sandra Bullock, Tiki Barber, Jim Gaffigan, John Ratzenburger and Sarah Vowell. In follows Sunset Shimmer, where she finds a mysterious figure named Twilight, and when the Friendship Games come around, its up for her to win the games. Adamson conceived the film's original concept in 1998. The film, as well as its main setting, was named after a genus of tachinid flies in the family Tachinidae. Some of the Pixar Animation staff visited the 2000 Olympic games for inspiration. Wondercolts ''and its art style were also influenced by animated films by Pixar. Alan Silvestri composed the film's score. ''Wondercolts premiered at the Angelika Film Center in New York City on June 9, 2005 and was theatrically released in the United States on June 17, 2005. It received critical acclaim, with many critics praising its animation, concept, screenplay, characters, score, and vocal performances, particularly of Gellar and Kunis; it is often cited as one of the greatest animated films of all time. The film grossed over $947 million worldwide on a budget of $120 million, becoming the highest-grossing film of 2005, the sixteenth highest-grossing animated film of all time, and the highest-grossing animated film of all time (overtaken by Computeropolis 2 in 2007), all records held at the time of its release. It won two Academy Awards, including Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song for "Right There in Front of Me". The film was later released on DVD and VHS on November 15, 2005, and on Blu-ray on May 17, 2011. The film was accompanied by the short Mark's Dream for its theatrical and home media releases. The film's success has since helped spawn an expanded franchise, including a Christmas television special on ABC, and a sequel, titled Wondercolts 2, set to be released on May 29, 2020. Plot The students of Canterlot High School prepare for the Friendship Games, an academic and sporting competition held between their school's team, the Wondercolts, and the undefeated Shadowbolts from Crystal Prep Academy. Sunset Shimmer, who has been observing her friends' magical ability to "pony up" – grow pony-like ears, tails, and wings – whenever they play musical instruments, becomes concerned when Rainbow Dash transforms during a pep rally, seemingly at random. Tasked with finding the cause of this development, Sunset attempts to contact Princess Twilight Sparkle in Equestria for advice, but receives no response. Meanwhile, Crystal Prep is attended by Twilight's counterpart, who investigates the magical activity surrounding Canterlot High. Twilight builds a locket-like device with which to detect and contain the magic for further study, hoping this will secure her application for Everton, a coveted independent study program. However, her school's Principal Cinch threatens to revoke the application to blackmail Twilight into participating in the Friendship Games and maintain Crystal Prep's victory record. Upon Twilight's arrival at Canterlot High, her device detects Sunset and her friends' magic and leads Twilight to them; as she approaches, the device inadvertently drains Rarity's magic when she "ponies up" after making uniforms for her friends. Sunset, initially mistaking Twilight for her pony counterpart, quickly realizes the misunderstanding and considers consulting the pony Twilight in person. When Crystal Prep's Twilight follows her to the portal to Equestria, the device absorbs the portal's magic and seals it off, preventing travel between the human world and Equestria. The device similarly affects Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy when they attempt to befriend Twilight during the games, tearing open dimensional rifts to Equestria and giving Twilight's dog Spike the ability to speak. Following Twilight's victory in the games' academic decathlon, the games continue with a "tricross relay", a relay race between archery, speed skating and motocross. Applejack transforms after advising Twilight in the race, causing the device to steal Applejack's magic and create a rift that summons monstrous plants. Rainbow Dash "ponies up" to save the other competitors before losing her own magic, allowing Canterlot High to win the event, but causing Cinch to accuse Canterlot High of cheating due to their perceived magical advantage. Before the final event, Cinch and the Shadowbolts pressure Twilight into releasing the magic within her device to harness it against the Wondercolts. The magic instead corrupts Twilight, turning her into a monster who proceeds to destroy the statue portal and obsessively open more rifts that threaten to destroy the parallel world. As the Wondercolts and Shadowbolts work together to save their classmates, Sunset notices her friends' magical auras and realizes that their magic manifests when they exhibit the same traits as the Elements of Harmony. Gathering their magic with the device, Sunset assumes an angelic form, closes the rifts and returns Twilight to normal. Refusing to relent for manipulating Twilight, Cinch threatens to report the incident to the school board. When taunted that no one would believe her account of the magical incidents, however, she concedes to a tie that is celebrated by both teams. Reconsidering her Everton application, Twilight realizes she is happier at Canterlot High and transfers there, where Sunset and the other students welcome her as a new friend. In a pre-credits scene, the Twilight from Equestria emerges from the unsealed portal with the counterparts of her friends gathered around it. She apologizes for her absence, explaining that she has just escaped from a time travel loop, before gawking at the sight of her own counterpart. After the credits, Sugarcoat and Indigo are seen playing a Wondercolts Game Boy Advance game. After they succeed, Indigo tells the viewers to enter the Wondercolts Game Boy Advance code. (This is only seen on the VHS and DVD release.) Cast Main article: List of Wondercolts characters * Sarah Michelle Gellar as Sunset Shimmer/Daydream Shimmer * Mila Kunis as Sci-Twi/Midnight Sparkle * Joan Cusack as Applejack * Sarah Robinson as Rainbow Dash * Megan Freeman as Pinkie Pie * Kelly Moon as Fluttershy * Kirsten Dunst as Rarity * Emily Blunt as Principal Abacus Cinch * Amy Poehler as Sweety Drops * Sandra Bullock as Lyra * Tiki Barber as Sandalwood * Jim Gaffigan as Micro Chips * John Ratzenburger as Flash Sentry * Sarah Vowell as Darpy Production Development In January 1997 while working on Shrek, Andrew Adamson started working on an original film at Pixar Animation Studios, Trace Memory in North America, but problems with acquiring the necessary film rights prevented him from continuing with that project. To avoid a recurrence of that issue, he pitched five original ideas. The genesis of one of those ideas (the one that was ultimately green-lighted) occurred in 1998, when Moore began revisiting his childhood, when he—as a child—drew several pictures of two teams playing various sporting events. In March 2001, Disney announced the film, as appropriately joked as the Untitled Andrew Adamson Project, which is the film had been commissioned into early stages of development, but little else about the film was known at the time. The plot, director and co-director, producer and other small details were announced at the CinemaCon in April 2002. In December 2002, Disney officially announced that it would be titled Wondercolts, with Andrew Adamson directing. The studio also announced that it would be releasing the film in 2005, and hinted that it might be the summer 2005 release window previously announced by the studio in October 2002 for a then-untitled Pixar animated film. In January 2003, Pixar confirmed that it would be releasing the film on June 17, 2005. Writing The film's title "Wondercolts" comes from a genus of tachinid flies in the family Tachinidae. However, co-producer Joe Ranft suggested that the name is actually a portmanteau of word "paradise" and the prominent historical Genoese family Doria. Like most Disney and Pixar animated films, several major story problems were identified in 2004 only after the film had already transitioned from development into production, but computer-generated films tend to have much shorter production schedules and much larger animation teams (in this case, about 90 animators) than traditionally animated films. Since Adamson was already working 12-hour days (and Saturdays) directing such a large team of animators, Chris Wedge came on board as co-director to help fix the film's story issues by August 2003. Casting During the time, when Pixar was looking for a younger actor for the voice role of Sunset Shimmer, Bryce Dallas Howard was considered for the character. She screen tested for the role and was interested, but when Andrew Adamson was unable to make contact with him, he took it as a "no". In addition to Bryce Dallas Howard, Sarah Vowell, who subsequently accepted the role of Violet Parr in another Pixar film, The Incredibles, was also considered for the role of Sunset Shimmer. Lasseter took the role to Sarah Michelle Gellar of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fame, and she accepted. For the role of Sci-Twi, Jodi Benson, Sarah Silverman, Lucy Liu and Drew Barrymore were considered, but Mila Kunis got the role. In January 2004, it was announced Gellar and Kunis were cast. Animation and design Wondercolts ''was animated in-house at Pixar's headquarters in Emeryville, California. Production wrapped on January 22, 2005. Music : ''Main article: Wondercolts: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Alan Silvestri composed the film's score. The end credits song is "Right There in Front of Me". The official soundtrack for the film was released on June 14, 2005 by Back Lot Music. Release Wondercolts ''premiered on June 2, 2005 at the Angelika Film Center in New York City. The film's cast were present at the premiere. The film was originally rated G by the MPAA, but Rich Moore felt that the film was not for younger children due to mild violence, so it was later re-rated PG. Marketing The teaser trailer was released on November 5, 2004, and was shown before ''The Incredibles, The Polar Express, The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, National Treasure, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, Zina and the Vivid Crew, Fat Albert, Elektra, Pooh's Heffalump Movie, and Are We There Yet?. The theatrical trailer was released on March 4, 2005, and was shown before The Pacifier, Robots, Ice Princess, Tj's World: The Movie, Kim Possible Movie: So The Drama, and Madagascar. Pixar Animation Studios partnered with more than 100 licensing and promotional partners in a deal valued at an unprecedented $250 million. Spots for the film appeared on Disney Channel, Toon Disney, ABC, ESPN, and ABC Family. Coinciding with the film's release, Disney also partnered with McDonald's to produce fourteen toys in their Happy Meals. Home media Wondercolts ''was released on DVD and VHS, in wide- and full-screen editions, on November 15, 2005 in the United States and Canada. It was also released on November 9, 2005 in Australia and New Zealand and on November 28, 2005 in the United Kingdom. All releases include a new animated short film ''A Banner Day and the film's theatrical short Mark's Dream as well as a 16-minute-long documentary about the film entitled The Making of Wondercolts, which features director Rich Moore. It also featured the Pixar short Boundin', deleted scenes, audio commentary, sing-along versions of Friendship Games, CHS Rally Song and What More Is Out There?, and a music video for "Right There in Front of Me". The bonus features are also included in the iTunes version as iTunes Extras. A two-disc special edition was released the same day. In the US and Canada, there were bonus discs available with the purchase of the film at Wal-Mart and at Target. The former featured a Sport-Up Bonus DVD Disc that focused on the music of the film, including the music video to "ACADEA", The Making of "ACADEA", Wondercolts: The Making of the Music, and Suited Up, a special that originally aired on the ABC Family cable channel. The latter's bonus was a Gear'd Up DVD Disc that featured material mostly already released as part of the official Wondercolts ''podcast and focused on the inspiration and production of the movie. Upon release, the film sold over 2.8 million VHS and DVD units in its first week, making it the highest-selling home entertainment animated film for Disney of 2005 as well as the second-highest-selling home entertainment film for Disney. Across all digital and physical formats, ''Wondercolts ''generated $74.2 million in its first week. The Blu-Ray was released on November 6, 2007. It was the first Pixar film to be released on Blu-ray (alongside ''Cars, Ratatouille, and Pixar Short Films Collection, Volume 1). It was also released on Blu-ray + DVD combo pack on April 19, 2011 which contained a DTS version of For the Birds. The film was released for the first time in 3D on October 29, 2013, as part of Wondercolts: Ultimate Collector's Edition, which included the releases on Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D, and DVD. It was also released on 4K Ultra Blu-Ray on November 15, 2016. Video game : Main article: Wondercolts (video game) A video game based on the film was released on June 7, 2005 on PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, PlayStation Portable, PC, and Macintosh, as well as on mobile phones. An Xbox 360 version was released on November 22, 2005. Reception Box office Wondercolts opened in 10,000 North American theaters on its opening weekend, grossing $53.9 million on its first day, which was the biggest Friday opening day in July. During its opening weekend, Wondercolts earned $132.9 million from 10,000 theaters, which at the time set new records such as the highest opening for a Pixar film, the highest opening for a 2005 film in the United States and Canada, and previously the highest for an animated Pixar feature until it was outgrossed by Toy Story 3 in 2010 as well as holding the biggest opening for an animated feature (record overtaken by Computeropolis 2 in 2007). Regarding the film's successful opening, John Lasseter said, "We had a great date, and this is a big win for Pixar." The film stayed number one for six consecutive weeks, and it ended its run on January 5, 2006. Wondercolts grossed $362,152,089 domestically (US and Canada) and $585,324,272 in foreign markets for a total of $947,477,362 worldwide, making it the highest-grossing film worldwide of 2005, and the highest-grossing Disney film of that year. In addition, Wondercolts was the highest-grossing animated film of 2005, the highest-grossing Disney film (surpassing Finding Nemo in 2003) and the highest-grossing animated film ever (and as a result, it got a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes), surpassing the one-year-old record held by Shrek 2 in 2004, until it was later surpassed by Computeropolis 2 in 2007. With DVD sales and Wondercolts merchandise estimated to total almost $700 million, Wondercolts, which was produced with a budget of $77 million, was Disney's most profitable film at the time of its release, and was also the highest-grossing film produced by Pixar at the time until it was later surpassed by Toy Story 3 in 2010 and later Incredibles 2 in 2018. Critical reaction Wondercolts ''received critical acclaim. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 98% "Certified Fresh" approval rating based on 285 reviews with a weighted average rating of 8.7/10. The site's critical consensus states, "With its beautiful animation and a script that captures the nostalgia of a rival school's expedition, ''Wondercolts ''will perhaps find its family-friendly audience off guard." It was one of the site's highest-rated animated films of 2005, the other being ''Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit. On Metacritic, the film has a normalized score of 87 out of 100, based on 59 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale. Manohla Dargis of The New York Times considered the film "very amazing and beautifully well-done." Peter Travers of Rolling Stone gave the film three-and-a-half stars out of four, saying "Arguably their best effort ever since Toy Story, Wondercolts ''takes Pixar Animation Studios to a new level of creative storytelling and innovation. It is a true experience for the studio." Todd McCarthy of ''The Hollywood Reporter praised the film's concept, describing it "interesting and engaging that directly lives up to the animation history," but felt that the film "should take care of its plot a little more though it's still the best that no animated film has ever done." IGN gave the film a 9.2 out of 10 'Amazing' score, saying "Very original, entertaining, heartwarming, love-spirited, sometimes scary and depressing, Wondercolts ''is yet another blockbuster animated success for Disney in years." ''The Chicago Tribune's Michael Phillips called it the studio's best since Toy Story, a "new touching, sweet, heartwarming entry to animation." Betsy Bozdech of Common Sense Media gave the movie 5 stars, stating that "Wondercolts ''is filled with hearts, spirit, romance and humor that suits up with other animated movies from the likes of ''Finding Nemo." However, Ty Burr of The Boston Globe criticized the film's story, describing it as "too formulaic." The relationship between the characters Sunset Shimmer and Sci-Twi has received mostly positive reception. Accolades Main article: List of accolades received by Wondercolts Wondercolts ''was nominated for various awards and won a number of them, including several for Best Animated Feature. At the 63rd Golden Globe Awards, it won Best Original Score. It led the 33rd Annie Awards with all 11 wins, including Outstanding Achievement in Directing in an Animated Feature Production for Lasseter, Outstanding Achievement in Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production for Gellar and Best Animated Feature. Legacy Cultural impact ''Coming soon! Sequel Main article: Wondercolts 2 A sequel, titled Wondercolts 2, is scheduled for release on May 29, 2020. Sarah Michelle Gellar, Mila Kunis, Joan Cusack, Sarah Robinson, Megan Freeman, Kelly Moon, Kirsten Dunst, Amy Poehler, Sandra Bullock, Tiki Barber, Jim Gaffigan, John Ratzenburger and Sarah Vowell are signed to reprise their roles, it will be directed by Pete Doctor. The film's plot was announced in April 2017: "When Camp Everfree is in danger of closing down, the WONDERCOLTS use their newfound super abilities and throw a Crystal Gala fundraiser to show their support and help save camp!". New cast members include, Jodi Benson, Spencer Fox, and Adam Driver. Wondercolts 2 was originally scheduled for theatrical release on June 19, 2020. It was then moved up to May 29, 2020 and its former release date was given to an untitled Pixar film. On February 22, 2019, it was announced that Wondercolts 2 would include an IMAX 3D release as part of Disney's new distribution deal with IMAX. Category:EvanRocks Wiki Category:Films